Live Review: Giorgio Moroder

It’s ironic that Giorgio Moroder only started DJing a couple of years back when DJs have been spinning his tunes since way back in the ‘70s. After being hyped by long-forgotten disco classics, the enthusiastic crowd of rapidly aging club kids can hardly contain their excitement as the grand-daddy of the discotheque takes to the stage. “Let’s start with something sexy,” says Moroder kicking off with Donna Summer’s Love To Love You Baby, syncing the audio with old video footage of the iconic disco diva. Understandably, such a nostalgic, much-loved favourite sets the place off as elated fans boogie down and cheer Moroder on. What follows is an absolutely joyous club megamix that takes in many of the hit records that Moroder produced. Moroder transports us back in time to the dancefloors of the hedonistic pleasure places of yesteryear where looking good and pulling shapes was all that mattered all night long. Surprisingly, only a very few punters saw in this evening an excuse to don their finest disco glad rags, but thankfully the few that did were there to totally flaunt it.

Many of Moroder’s hits feature on soundtracks. Berlin’s Take My Breath Away (from Top Gun) precedes Irene Cara’s Flashdance… What A Feeling and Blondie’s Call Me (featured in American Gigolo) towards the end of show proves to be a crowd-pleaser that has everyone jumping. The spectre of Donna Summer looms large over Moroder’s set. His production on these collaborations with Pete Bellote and Summer herself still sparkle brightly. It’s with a “Toot toot/Hey/Beep beep” that the disco aficionados in the crowd lose their minds when Moroder plays Bad Girls, Hot Stuff, Last Dance, On The Radio and of course I Feel Love. Moroder kills the vocals on the chorus of many of these songs and everyone joins in sing-along without needing to be prompted. Throughout the set Moroder, looking as though he is conducting the music, instructs the crowd when to clap their hands and move in time to the music. It feels a little like that time gramps taught you how to do the Macarena at someone’s wedding when you were still very young. 

Although focusing on mainstream hits, Moroder gets his control voltage oscillations on with the much-revered From Here To Eternity and The Chase, which make Moroder’s seminal influence in the myriad of electronic dance music styles that blossomed in the late ‘80s and ‘90s immediately apparent. His collaboration with Kylie, Right Here, Right Now, just washes over like an insatiably feelgood 21^st century club anthem. Moroder proudly announces that 74 Is The New 24 and it’s evident that he’s influenced by the Daft Punk robots that facilitated the Giorgio By Moroder collaboration. “My name is Giovanni Giorgio, but everybody calls me Giorgio,” has become his calling card. He’s definitely a DJ with whom you should become acquainted.